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Thursday, July 15, 2010

ACCORD Endocrine statements

"These studies do not advise against the treatment of hypertension in patients with diabetes; the controversy concerns the target level to which blood pressure should be reduced in these patients. The conclusions of the ACCORD BP study suggest that achieving a systolic blood pressure of 120 mm Hg compared to 140 mm Hg does not reduce the rate of major cardiovascular events. Furthermore, systolic blood pressure levels in the intensive treatment arm of the study were associated with more adverse events, including higher rates of hypokalemia and elevations of serum creatinine.

The NAVIGATOR study similarly concludes that the addition of Valsartan to the treatment regimen for patients with impaired glucose tolerance did not reduce the rate of cardiovascular events. The final study, INVEST, evaluated a control group compared to a moderate blood pressure group and an intensive blood pressure group in hypertensive diabetic patients with heart disease. While the greatest morbidity and mortality was seen in the control group, there was an increase in mortality in the intensively treated group compared to the moderate blood pressure control group, though this finding was restricted to those who achieved systolic blood pressure less than 115 mm Hg."

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